Bekah Wolford - QTC 1

Before reading Chapter 14 I have to say that I had never thought about all the possibilities there were as far as assessment. I was amazed to read about so many different types, the ways they work, the ways they are given, and so much more. There were so many things I had never really thought of when it came to giving an assessment, but I definitely feel that this chapter and book as a whole will be very helpful in my future teaching career.                                                                 

When Ormrod brakes down each assessment, it makes it harder to create a different type of assessment for each one, however the following are the types of ideas that I have came up with:

Informal & Formal Assessment:

In the case of formal assessment in my 2^nd grade classroom I would provide a fill in the blank worksheet for studying the states. In this assessment I would have the students write in the name for the 20 states I have pictured on the worksheet. Then as I review the children’s work I can see which children picked up on the states, and which students did not.

Traditional vs. Authentic Assessment:

In the case of Authentic Assessment, I would provide a hands-on activity for my students like making cookies by using a recipe I provided. This would allow me to measure their knowledge of being able to read instructions and follow steps, while also teaching them a concept that they can use in real-life. In my opinion, I feel that a lot of people learn better from hands on activities and from making and fixing their mistakes. However, some teachers would prefer to constantly use traditional assessment by giving math quizzes, or spelling tests all the time.

Standardized Tests & Teacher-developed Assessment:

Standardized tests in my opinion are a terrible way to assess what people know. There could be a variety of reasons that a child does not perform well on a standardized test, even if they are a straight a student. The child might not have understood the questions, the subjects on the test may have not been covered yet, or there could be so many other things that could affect their performance. Unfortunately as a teacher I am sure that I will have to give a standardized test at some point in time, but I will not personally use this as a determination as what my students know.  Instead I will construct my own teacher-developed assessment in order to focus in specifically on what we have covered in my classroom.

Paper-pencil & Performance Assessment:

For paper-pencil assessment I would have my students write a short story, which would allow me to see their performance and knowledge on knowing how to write, what words to use and not to use, their understanding of a story making sense, and whether or not they know how to write a flowing story. As for performance assessment, I would have a student read me a short story out loud from a book so that I could see how well of a vocabulary they have developed so far, where they are at in terms of understanding a story, and to help me determine their current reading level.

Criterion-referenced & Norm-referenced Assessment:

As for criterion-referenced assessment I would math test that consisted of 20 simple math problems that we had reviewed all week, and then depending on how many each child gets right would determine their score. For example if they got all 20 right then they would receive a 20 out of 20, or if they missed three they would get a 17 out of 20. If the child has not stops, or mess ups then they get a perfect 100 but if they pause for an extended period of time, or mess up a word or two they might get docked a point or two. Then for norm-referenced assessment I would have my students all take a math test that is given across the states and compare their results to the results of other state results.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Criterion-referenced assessment:

*Advantage: It allows me as a teacher to see what problems the child does and does not know.

*Disadvantage: Does not give me a reason as to why the student may not know the problem, or they possibly could have known it earlier in the week and just made a simple counting mistake.

Norm-referenced Assessment:

*Advantage: It allows me as a teacher to see where my students perform in comparison to those in other states.

*Disadvantage: How do I know that other teachers did not just provide answers, or under what conditions they gave their math tests. Therefore the study is not 100% accurate unless everyone is tested under the same testing environment.

*Disadvantage: The layout of other tests may have been different than the layout I used.

           This was a very interesting chapter and as I mentioned previously I was very amazed by the variety of assessments that really exist. As a future teacher I hope to use a mixture of authentic assessment, along with paper-pencil assessment, and teacher-developed assessment. I most definitely hope to stay as far away from standardized testing as possible, as much as possible, because I do not feel that it is really a good way to understand and assess what children do and do not know at the current time of assessment.